and solitude my guide
by Medie
Summary: Lois Lane is no one's fool and no one's shadow


Title: ...and solitude my guide  
Author: Medie  
Fandom: Smallville  
Pairing: Lois/Lex, a little Clark/Lois  
Rating: light R  
Spoilers: Not a one.  
Word count: 1708  
A/N: Written for **jaxie926** in the SV/SGA Flash Fiction challenge. Prompt at the end. I'm kinda pleased with this one. My Lois muse, what I have of one, always comes out just a little...jaded. This time we went a lot jaded. G  
Summary: Lois Lane is no one's fool and no one's shadow.

"...and solitude my guide"  
by M.  
-------  
Lois Lane is no one's fool. Never has been, never will be. She wants more from her life than what her mother settled for, living in the shadow of the General, dreams and plans dying a slow death, her identity little more than a wisp of smoke.

She grew up watching her mother lose more of herself with each passing day and hated her for it. Hated her for the weakness and that hate was the driving determination in her life. She was no man's play thing. She would be no man's play thing. The years passed with her watching and learning the lessons her mother unwittingly taught and the day she met Clark Kent she realized.

She looks into his big, beautiful, puppy dog eyes every day and realizes it over and over again.

The moment she met him she stood on the same precipice her mother had before her. Unlike her mother, Lois had looked over the edge, faced the same decision, and refused to fall.

She refuses to fall each day. Each time he looks at her. She will never be that dutiful housewife and shadow. There wasn't a chance in hell she is ever going to let herself be that. Not even for the man of steel.

----

"You know, Ms. Lane, we really have to stop meeting like this."

Superman's tone is glib and just the tiniest bit condescending, chiding her for her actions.

Lois hates him for it. She hates that he treats her like she's an errant child, one who's stupid as to not know when to come in out of the rain. She knows what she's doing. She'd known it when she'd agreed to meet the terrorist leader in his underground bunker. She'd known the risk. She'd known what could happen if the meeting was compromised. She was willing to risk it. She hadn't gotten where she is without taking those risks and she knows the feeling of accomplishment. Of being rewarded for doing her job well and she wants those rewards again. They don't hand out Kirk awards for covering the junior high bake sale.

The Kasnian army's assault was the perfect punctuation for her story. Her subsequent rescue by Superman had not been but Lois is nothing if not fast on her feet. She doesn't have to like it but she will use it. She uses many things she wishes she didn't have to.

From somewhere inside herself she summons up a light, flirtatious laugh, "But this is so much more comfortable than flying coach!"

He laughs, charmed by her words and her adoring look and she hates him for that too. For being so blind as to miss what's right before his eyes.

-----

Clark shoves his glasses up farther on his nose and squints at her. It's supposedly a nervous habit but she thinks it's another one of his lies. Another carefully designed ploy, another deceit to throw cold water on any suspicions. She doesn't believe it for a second but she doesn't say anything either. Suspicions like hers are to be kept for the proverbial rainy day. The knowledge of Clark Kent's secrets is a powerful weapon in the right hands and hers are certainly that.

"What is it, Kent?" She asks briskly, flicking an annoyed glance over the edge of her computer, stubbing her cigarette out and ignoring Jimmy's look of disapproval. "Corn prices down? Cows on strike?"

He heaves a pitiful sigh and gives her one of those patented puppy dog looks meant to soften her up for the lecture she knows is coming.

Pity it has the opposite effect. Clark Kent's sure-fired adorable looks are the very quintessential nails on a chalkboard for Lois Lane and she steels herself for the inevitable words that will comprise his answer.

"You shouldn't have gone." He points out, leaning toward her, the perfect expression of concern on his sculpted features. "It was too dangerous and you knew that."

"It was a calculated risk." She demurs with the wave of one hand, letting her attention slide back to the write up of said event. "Besides, it wasn't like our favorite boy scout in blue didn't have me covered. Superman showed up in the nick of time, just like always, so no worries."

The calculated comment has its intended effect. Tossed off with a faux casual air, it sounds appropriately glib and echoes the tone he'd used with her. The momentary slip of Clark's façade, the glimmer of aggravation that slips through, makes it so very delicious. She very nearly smiles and gives away the smug feeling spreading through her chest. He really does make it too easy sometimes.

"Superman isn't your personal bodyguard, Lois," Clark argues, some of his frustration with her spilling over. "You can't expect him to be there every single time you decide to do something crazy."

"Oh I don't, Clark," she replies smoothly, lighting up another cigarette, "the problem isn't that I do. The problem is he does."

-----

When she sleeps with him it is a magical moment full of love, passion, and tenderness….for him at least. For Lois it's simply another card to play. Clark is growing suspicious, seeing through the tough, city girl façade she puts up and that simply can't be allowed to happen. Seducing him is the easiest method of distraction. Clark Kent is a farm boy from Kansas and he equates sex with true love. She lets him cuddle her and whisper words in her ear but as soon as he falls asleep she slips from the bed.

He's vulnerable here, innocent, and it rankles. Looking down at his sleeping form, she feels that tug toward the precipice and for a moment wavers until the ghost of her mother's face passes before her mind's eye. At that reminder, her heart hardens again and she turns away to find her underwear.

Clark Kent can fly, let him take the trip over the edge, she's not about to be so foolish.

-----

In the dead of night, Metropolis crawls along at a slower pace, a city at peace with itself. Safe, it thinks, under the protective watch of their alien protector, their very own sainted guardian angel from the stars. The thought of it makes her snort in disbelief as she navigates the near-empty streets. Sometimes, she's too good at her job and she was that and then some with her Superman sales pitch.

It's good, she thinks, that she went into journalism and not the corporate world. Riding the glass elevator up through the steel and glass architectural wet dream that is LexCorp's headquarters, she thinks had she done so…

She and the man waiting in the penthouse suite would be mortal enemies and not the allies they are.

"Lois." 

Lex greets her with a smooth smile, a glass of bourbon, when she disembarks. She returns the smile, taking the glass and swallowing the drink in one equally smooth motion.

"Lex."

He puts the glass aside and slides a hand along her back, guiding her in for a kiss. She presses close eagerly and they linger for a long moment, enjoying themselves.

When they finally pull away, he takes in the look of her and slides a thumb along her jaw line, "I assume our little friend is safe and snug in his bed?"

She smiles a different smile, the one she hides away from the world at large, and nods once. "As snug as the stereotypical bug, didn't even notice when I left."

Lex tsks at that. "He's slipping." He lets his thumb rub lightly over her lip and she briefly sucks it into her mouth, earning a look of approval. "Good."

"I thought you'd like that." She agrees when he drops his hand. Pressing closer, she slides her own beneath the crisp white of his shirt, seeking out skin. "He keeps this up, I'll be able to set off a bomb beneath his bed and he won't notice." It's a thrill to think it. The most powerful man in the world is nearly completely at her mercy. The twitch of a finger, the pout of a lip, and his attention is hers to do with as she pleases. It's a heady feeling and she glories in it.

Lex understands that. He understands the power she holds and the uses for it. He doesn't pretend he isn't interested in those uses himself and she doesn't pretend offense at it. They each have their uses for each other and mutual goals to accomplish. How they get to them is their own business and their own concern. Enjoying themselves along the way is a mutual benefit that neither has problems with.

"You thought correctly." He agrees, stealing another kiss. "You're making such progress Lois."

She smiles again, wider this time, and takes his hand in hers. "I've had good teachers." She turns and leads him through the penthouse toward the bedroom and the very comfortable bed which awaits them. Being the mistress and ally of a billionaire certainly has its advantages and she does so enjoy indulging in them. "Not to mention my wealth of natural talent." 

He hmms in agreement and she can feel his gaze sweeping over her form. Falling into bed with him is the perfect way to wash herself of the memories of Clark's cautiously tender touch. Lex knows her preferences, knows what she likes, and he isn't shy about playing to them. She's screaming in pleasure before she realizes it and that, as much as the sex, pleases her. There's very little about the world that surprises her anymore and this one little thing she will permit herself. With Lex there are no precipices, no falls into oblivion, and she is no living shadow. She is his partner in this little game of theirs. Without her, his plans would not be nearly as successful as they are now and without him she would not be this. She would not be secure in the power she has achieved for herself.

It's a fair price she thinks. She'll dance on the edge of this cliff for as long as she dares then, when it's time, walk away.

She is, after all, no one's fool.

finis

Prompt: Lois/Lex. Any plot.


End file.
